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Tuesday, 18 July 2017

139. ZEN REMARKS

139. Imagine the scene: a temple courtyard, a wind blowing, a flag on a pole flapping, and two monks standing at the foot of the pole. One monk says that the flag moved. The other insists that the wind moved. Is it the wind or the flag that is doing the moving? The two monks argue back and forth about this but cannot reach a conclusion. Then a stranger happens along, overhears their argument and intervenes, saying: 'It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves; it is your mind that moves'. Suitably impressed, the two monks go on to discover the stranger's identity - he is Eno, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen.